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SomaLogic, New England Biolabs, Gilead Sue Enzymatics for IP Infringement

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – SomaLogic, New England Biolabs, and Gilead Sciences are suing Enzymatics in federal court for patent infringement.

In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the plaintiffs accuse Enzymatics of infringing US Patent Nos. 5,670,637, titled "Nucleic acid ligands" and 5,874,557, titled "Nucleic acid ligand inhibitors to DNA polymerase."

Both were assigned to NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, which transferred all rights, title, and interest in the patents to Gilead, which subsequently licensed them to SomaLogic. New England Biolabs exclusively sublicensed the two patents from SomaLogic and has developed and sold products covered by them.

In the summer of 2011, SomaLogic and New England Biolabs announced a deal to provide specific aptamer-based reagents to New England Biolabs for nucleic acid amplification and PCR products. It is unclear whether the deal includes technology covered by the two disputed patents.

The plaintiffs ask the court to issue a temporary and permanent injunction against Enzymatics, a Beverly, Mass.-based provider of molecular biology reagents and manufacturing services. They also are requesting the court find that Enzymatics' infringement is willful and deliberate and to award treble damages.

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